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Is it? How easy is it to imagine something that is not rooted in any kind of experience? We imagine things that don't exist, for example fairies, but these are just reconstructions of what we do know to exist, for example tiny living things, people and wings. God is different because we have no experience of the infinite, omnipotent etc..

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I imagine it was an idea that caught on fairly quick, and part of the reason it persists so easily is that by its very nature can neither be proven nor disproven. Simply that it is a persistant idea is not evidence or proof.

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One more thing - I understand that we have a good handle on opposites, but would we really see ourselves as imperfect if we didn't have anything perfect to compare ourselves to? If not, where did the idea come about if not from god?

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"Perfect" and "imperfect" are just ways that we percieve somthing. Which is why my idea of the perfect woman would be different than yours, and why there are several different ideas on the nature of god.

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Ok, take a different example - infinity. God is infinite, we are finite along with every other object in the world. If we have only ever experience the finite, how could we have created the notion of infinity? How could I know that I lacked something (infinity) if I had never conceived of it?

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We do have experience with the infinite. That's where the idea of God comes from. Early man or his ancestors ingested brain altering chemicals. They saw God, developed speech patterns to describe their visions. It was all kicked off when we had to become ground dwelling apes instead of tree dwelling. We started looking for food probably because of drought. Early humans came across dung growing mushrooms. The rest came naturally.

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Well, I know some that would argue that maybe wo don't have a grasp on the infiinite. Merely the very very large. But there again, law of opposites apply. We have pretty good grasp of the finite because... well... we die. Is it such a big leap to be lying over the dead body of a lover and think, "I wonder what it would be like if I could live forever?" We come up with a lot of notions outside of our existence, grounded in what we do experience.

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But yet we try to invent perpetual motion and energy devices. Does the world and sky change much in a persons lifetime? Would it be so tough to look up at the sky and think of it as never changing? Would that not be why whenever something DID change (i.e. comets, eclipses, supernova) it was usually applied a supernatural meaning?

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I'm not sure it's "proof", but it is an interesting theory. One reason that I believe in God is that I have such a hunger for Him. For me, it goes to reason that I wouldn't have a core desire that wouldn't be possible to fulfill....it's kind of like being thirsty. What purpose would thirst serve if it weren't possible to quench it? I believe that we were created to need all sorts of things. Energy. Rest. Love. Companionship. God. <br />So I guess the answer is "yes". The fact that the majority of people need or want to believe in God speaks to something elemental that is at our core. And if it's there, then it would follow that God exists.

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I'm not sure that I'd call it "implanting an idea" so much as just being made with the need or to operate in a certain way. Kind of like babies being born and needing parents. They don't think about it really, and the need isn't about a sudden awareness of "Hey, I need my mom" though that can happen, but not because the need wasn't always there. I think a lot of people need God but aren't aware of it. I think it's more just that that's the way we are. We feel we are being watched. The vast majority of us intrinsically LONG to be fully known (impossible for another human) and unconditionally loved even as we are known, even though that is so rare on planet earth. It's more than just about survival or procreation. For that matter, why would procreation be so darn important for so many? Why the WILL to survive, if we weren't made that way? We need to know what's right and wrong and to have a sense of some sort of moral law...and it's usually a law that we expect others to know about too. We need a "father" or guidance even into our adult lives, or to have a sense of who we are and why we're here. That implies Reason that is behind the way things are. And Reason implies intelligence. Which again, leads us back to God. That's how it makes sense to me anyway. There are many that would adamantly disagree. ;)

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Hardwired why? What difference does it make to us to carry on our species? Why does it matter to you or to an amoeba whether we have progeny? And why does having progeny matter so much to some but not to others? You see my logic as flawed. But I see yours as being that way. As I wrote, I knew there would be people who would disagree or challenge me. :) We each have to find what makes sense to us....I believe God gave humans that ability. Though you believe it came from somewhere else. I have no problem with that.

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ok . now to make things simple for u.<br /><br />one day man woke up and started to appreciate everything around him that is so well crafted and so perfect that no human could possibly do.<br /><br />so he thought there must be a higher machinery behind all this.<br />so there has to be a name for that. so lets call it "GOD"<br /><br />tadaaa !! there u go ! man got the idea of god.

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The Eschaton created the universe. "I am the beginning and the end, I am the Alpha and the Omega."The last thing is also the first.Our Universe breaths. It breaths out, Big Bang, It breaths in, Big Bang. Over and over.The Eschaton.

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You might be surprised! Have you ever thought of all the "coincidences" of science that make life go well? Take Lightning for instance. Lightning occurs when there are clouds, and when there are clouds, there is rain! Because when lightning strikes it heats up the ground to extreme temperatures, without rain, the number of forest fires would be at x100 what it actually is! To me, it's all fantastic how well he planned everything out!

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The idea of god might well be proof of god's existence, if god is all thoughts and thoughts are self-aware energy. In this paradigm, god has no power over your life, but you have all power from it.<br /><br />Humanized gods come from men who had no way to explain hurricanes, volcanoes, earth quakes, etc. Those gods are being disproved in the last quarter century, since quantum physicists began probing the nature of thought (consciousness - mind).<br /><br />It turns out that thoughts are eletromagnetic energy, and since energy cannot be destroyed, this makes us thought structures. Who you are does not end at the body's edge. It extends out from you and mixes with the "I" of others whose thoughts also extend from them, eventually forming what it being called the "unified field" or the "quantum field".

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I wouldn't say the idea of god is vague but yes, I understand your point. But the idea of god is an anomaly as far as ideas generally go. If he is fictitious, our fictitious ideas are normally rooted in some form of reality. This reality is usually equal to or superior to the corresponding idea. yet the idea of god, if he doesn't exist, is far greater than any corresponding reality.